In our cycle of prayer for our community, during November 2018 we will be
offering prayers for all working in
Joanna Close, The Meadows
Breamore Road, The Headlands,
Salisbury Road, Crossways Close and New Court
Requests for particular prayers can be made by telephoning Reverend Frank Gimson
on 01725 510326, emailing info@stlaurencedownton.co.uk or leaving a request on the prayer tree in church.
What's on
St Laurence Church:
Trussell Trust – Christmas Appeal 2018
We want to help the Trussell Trust ensure that local people in need will have enough to eat over the Christmas period, and also be able to enjoy some of the special foods that we take for granted. The Trust will be distributing not only special Christmas boxes, but also regular foodboxes, and demand for the usual long-life items will be particularly high.
The Trussell Trust has asked if this year for Christmas donations could be 50% general items and 50% Christmas treats.
Please go to our Helping in the Community page to see a list of suggested items you may like to choose from.
Closing date: Sunday 9th December
Please bring donations to church on Sunday mornings, or to The Vicarage at other times.
Thank you!
Downton Christmas Tree Festival
St Laurence Church
Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th December 2018
Entries Welcome
from individuals, schools, families, businesses, charities and community groups of
Christmas trees, wreaths and table top scenes of your own design.
Let your imagination run riot with unusual or traditional decorations, with a theme,
as a tribute or just decorative - whatever inspires you!
Entry forms are available in both the Borough Café and St Laurence Church
or can be downloaded here.
Also this year, in the hopes of making it easier, you can fill in the application form online
by clicking the following link:
Final entry deadline: 25th November.
Any funds raised during the festival will be divided between the Downton4Family and
other charitable causes chosen by St Laurence Church.
Last year we raised just under £1900 – let’s make £2000 or more this year!
The registered charity Downton4Family promotes the care and upbringing of children,
providing mentoring, advocacy & parenting support to relieve the needs of families
at risk of breaking down or having already broken down.
Goose Fair 2018
A very big thank you
to everyone who helped in so many different ways to make the
Goose Fair such a success again this year.
The church looked wonderful as always, with crafts galore, jewellery, bygones, home-made and home-grown produce. The interesting exhibitions by various local organisations enabled visitors to find out more about our historic village and its active community. We also had delicious refreshments, fun children’s games and the chance to win a luxury hamper. All was much appreciated and enjoyed by the many visitors to the Fair, and also raised much needed funds for the church.
Thank you one and all!
Coffee and Company
Sadly we shall no longer be meeting for coffee on Monday mornings. Over the years we have been very pleased
to welcome regular attenders and occasional visitors, but as numbers have been falling for some time now
we have reluctantly decided to close.
We are grateful to those who have supported us for a long time.
St Laurence Church will continue to be open on a daily basis, in daylight hours, for anyone who wants to come and look round.
Ken Parsons - Churchwarden
At our Annual Meeting on 15th April, after many years of devoted service, Ken Parsons stood down as Churchwarden for St Laurence Church. Ken has been our Churchwarden since 2010, and in that time has performed an exemplary service, supported always by his wife Jo.
Ken has worked tirelessly for St Laurence, going far beyond what a Churchwarden is called to do. In particular, Ken saw us through the planning, design, construction and completion of the wonderful new facilities as the back of Church – facilities that have greatly enhanced our use of our building.
Ken has also been a great support and encouragement to me as Team Rector, both personally and in my ministry here.
Although he is stepping down as Churchwarden, Ken continues to give of his time and energy to the Church as a Deputy Churchwarden.
We are all extremely grateful for all that Ken has done over these past 8 years. Thank you, Ken.
Revd. Frank Gimson
Team Rector
St Laurence Church is now on Facebook!
For all our latest news and events visit
and like our page
Together with many others in our community,
we are looking for ways to support and
help refugees and migrants.
for suggestions of how we might do this.
FREE MONEY for St Laurence Trinity FUNders
Support St Laurence's Trinity FUNders every time you shop online, click the sign up button on the page Link to start fundraising for St Laurence's Trinity FUNders.
Help St Laurence's Trinity FUNders raise money, just by shopping online.
Latest total changes daily - Total as at
12.11.18 stands at £916.61
THANK YOU to all our supporters
Please follow the link here to see more photos
St Laurence Church supporting Local Charities
Our aim with this page is to Support Local Charities by promoting their events here - Free of Charge.
If you would like to place an advertisement on this page, and your event is within 10 miles of St Laurence Church - Downton.
Follow this link for more details.
Current advertisers -